Small sample set aside, the performance differences here are much bigger than I've seen in previous linux comparisons. Something has to be off right? Curious if anyone is able to reproduce these results.
It's a type of question that Arch/Cachy often ask during regular updates. Here it's about replacing a package. Sometimes you also need to make a choice between multiple packages or even perform some manual actions (see https://archlinux.org/). This requires you to possibly look it up, understand the change, and make a decision. If you screw it up, you can break your system.
My point was not that this is bad. Arch Linux is intentionally and explicitly targeted at proficient users. This is part of the deal. It can even be nice, because it gives you more insight into and control over what goes on under the hood in your system. However, I don't think this is a good experience for (most) new users.